tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155233282024-03-13T03:32:28.643-07:00Updates from El SalvadorThe Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-55747118159561455852008-03-17T16:44:00.000-07:002008-03-19T09:14:16.730-07:00Palm Sunday<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E0nLlILCI/AAAAAAAAA4I/zbR30qB3vVk/s1600-h/SUC58981.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E0nLlILCI/AAAAAAAAA4I/zbR30qB3vVk/s320/SUC58981.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179478894180838434" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On our way to the procession<br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R98Ci7lIK7I/AAAAAAAAA3Q/UGEMutQR8KM/s1600-h/SUC58986.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R98Ci7lIK7I/AAAAAAAAA3Q/UGEMutQR8KM/s160/SUC58986.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Little Robert Emilio checks out the palms outside his grandma's house<br /><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R98CjLlIK8I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/NEJgYbgi5bs/s1600-h/SUC58987.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R98CjLlIK8I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/NEJgYbgi5bs/s160/SUC58987.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The Liturgy of the Palms<br /><br />San Andrés celebrated Palm/Passion Sunday with style. We opted to make the procession shorter this year in order for more people to participate, and it worked. Almost 40 people processed down the street fron Niña Romana´s house to the church. The church was packed with 55 people, and the youth did a fabulous job reading the Passion narrative.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E7n7lILGI/AAAAAAAAA4o/hDsVUf6x0aw/s1600-h/SUC58989.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E7n7lILGI/AAAAAAAAA4o/hDsVUf6x0aw/s320/SUC58989.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179486603647134818" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The youth of the parish read the Passion gospel<div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-79160736680038558352008-03-11T20:51:00.001-07:002008-03-17T23:34:47.888-07:00Back to Work...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99gtblIK-I/AAAAAAAAA3o/UPUrct9yKmg/s1600-h/SUC58835.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 306px; height: 230px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99gtblIK-I/AAAAAAAAA3o/UPUrct9yKmg/s320/SUC58835.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178964430113221602" border="0" /></a><br />On my first day back at work, Jacob checks out the librería (bookstore) with new friends Vilma and Lupita<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99gtrlIK_I/AAAAAAAAA3w/8c6N5qrlo4Q/s1600-h/SUC58837.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99gtrlIK_I/AAAAAAAAA3w/8c6N5qrlo4Q/s320/SUC58837.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178964434408188914" border="0" /></a><br />Vilma holds Jacob; Jacob makes me laugh!<br /><br />We arrived back in El Salvador after spending the last two months of my maternity leave with family in California, and both returned to work, in mid-February. It's been good to be back in El Salvador, and while returning to work has been an adjustment for all of us (Jacob's not to big on Mommy not being around a couple of evenings a week, and since Vince has been working with groups we've had several adventures in tag-team parenting!), it's been wonderful to see Jacob with his many Salvadoran "amigos." He goes to the office with me two days a week, and my staff completely re-arranged my office because they weren't pleased with the placement of his "cunita" (aka playpen)!<br /><br />I have been thrilled to return to a church and school which are not only still running, but doing better than before I left! A number of physical improvements have been made to the school, the staff re-vamped (both to meet more stringent Ministry of Education standards), and a new, wonderfully dedicated, highly qualified director hired. When I left there were three evening activities a week at the church, and now there are four! Vilma, the lay reader who the bishop put in charge of San Andrés while I was gone, did a fabulous job. We need to pray that she continues to respond to God´s call to ministry, hopefully ordained ministry!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99guLlILAI/AAAAAAAAA34/-N0p6GPcQpo/s1600-h/SUC58843.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99guLlILAI/AAAAAAAAA34/-N0p6GPcQpo/s320/SUC58843.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178964442998123522" border="0" /></a><br />Jacob visits with Don Emilio and Niña Romana;<br />Jacob gets a hug from Dieguito (below)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99gublILBI/AAAAAAAAA4A/gGdqUUF5KNY/s1600-h/SUC58844.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R99gublILBI/AAAAAAAAA4A/gGdqUUF5KNY/s320/SUC58844.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178964447293090834" border="0" /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-63515097504936149022008-03-06T22:25:00.000-08:002008-03-06T22:30:04.609-08:00Change<p class="MsoNormal">The Church must change, not only in order to attract new members and grow, not simply in order to survive as an institution. <span style=""> </span>The Church must embrace change if it is to embrace the mission to which Christ is calling it in the 21<sup>st</sup> century: a mission to be Jesus to a world which is increasingly divided, increasingly broken, increasingly secularized, and plummeting semi-obliviously toward disaster.<span style=""> </span>How can we be Jesus’ loving hands (multiplying bread and fish); how can we be his healing presence (casting out demons and raising the dead); how can we live his Paschal Mystery—dying to ourselves and being raised up for others in our world today?<span style=""> </span>A world that, in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state>, looks like four-lane freeways and identical shopping outlets; tucked-away migrant labor camps and lonely oncology wards?<span style=""> </span>A world that, in San Salvador, looks like bright children with an uncertain future, unwieldy bureaucracies top-heavy with corrupt officials, the price of beans and corn doubling so people can eat half as much, a dozen young lives a day cut off by uncaring violence, families on two sides of a wall that prevents them from seeing each other, maybe ever again?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I don’t have a strategy or technique for being Jesus in the middle of all of this.<span style=""> </span>I know that it is important to keep love several blocks ahead of fear.<span style=""> </span>I know accompaniment is key—it’s important just to be there with people; to show up.<span style=""> </span>And I know that mission is about transformation—of the world in Christ’s image, yes, but first and foremost, of ourselves.<span style=""> </span>It won’t happen by sitting still.<span style=""> </span>That transformation-that-is-mission happens when we allow ourselves to be turned inside-out by others’ reality, which we come to realize is our reality too.<span style=""> </span>Then, there is true solidarity: we stand together.<span style=""> </span>Then we can start to talk about change in the world, together, because we ourselves have been changed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Change is terrifying to most human beings.<span style=""> </span>Yet change is also the most organic, natural thing in the world.<span style=""> </span>Our bodies’ cells are constantly changing themselves, being renewed and transformed every minute; if they weren’t, we’d be dead.<span style=""> </span>Change can be drastic and sudden, or gradual, but it is never total—we always bring something of the old with us, even if it’s only in the imprints of our hearts and minds, in the shaping of who we are.<span style=""> </span>Change is life.<span style=""> </span>To be open to change is to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit.<span style=""> </span>Ultimately, it is she who will breathe into us the power to be Jesus to the world. -Amy+<span style=""> </span></p>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-53458666550673926042007-12-15T20:36:00.000-08:002008-03-11T20:48:58.287-07:00DaniNoah, our friend and co-worker in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>, was staying with us. <span style=""> </span>He got a call on his cell phone around 11PM on Monday, November 19.<span style=""> </span>I was in the room, and I could tell it was something serious.<span style=""> </span>Cain, who works with Noah in rural Usulután, called to tell Noah that Cain’s son-in-law, Dani, had been shot.<span style=""> </span>Dani and his compañera, Cain´s daughter <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Carolina</st1:place></st1:city>, were members of my youth group at church and lived in the neighborhood.<span style=""> </span>She 18, he 21; they had had a baby five months prior.<br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>When Noah told me that Cain´s son-in-law had been shot, I stayed calm and just asked if he was alright.<span style=""> </span>“They’re operating on him in the hospital in the neighborhood.”<span style=""> </span>It took me that long in my fuzzy post-partum mind to make the connection between “Cain’s son-in-law” and Dani.<span style=""> </span>But I still didn’t freak out.<span style=""> </span>Noah was raging about the violence and the randomness and the injustice, Vince was listening sobered; I lit a candle to leave burning, made Noah and Vince pray with me, and went to bed.<span style=""> </span>I felt like everything was going to be alright.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>By the next morning we learned that Dani was in a coma, had been transferred to the hospital in Zacamil, over an hour away, and was to be operated on again.<span style=""> </span>By mid-morning he had been transferred a third time to the large public Hospital Rosales in the Centro for surgery.<span style=""> </span>After several calls from Cain, Noah decided to get on a bus to Rosales, about ten blocks from our apartment, to offer some moral support to the family.<span style=""> </span>I decided to go with him.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>There was a long line of people waiting with little pieces of paper to get in for visiting hours, but Noah and I, either because of our invisible “gringo pass” or because the gate guard knew the situation was dire, were let right in.<span style=""> </span>We hurried through the tropical landscaped grounds of the hospital, passing open buildings which felt like odd crosses between Victorian wards and military barracks.<span style=""> </span>We finally found the surgery unit, one of the few new buildings on the campus, and were again let quickly through a guarded gate.<span style=""> </span>In the hallway beyond a closed door we found the priest who works with Noah and<span style=""> </span>Cain and several women surrounding Dani’s mother, who was seated and sobbing.<span style=""> </span>We had arrived moments after Dani died on the operating table.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>The priest told us that Cain and Carol were outside and could probably use some support.<span style=""> </span>I sat with Carol for two hours after she found out her life partner was dead.<span style=""> </span>I sat with her on the sidewalk, backed up against the wall of the hospital, her baby playing with an older woman a few feet away.<span style=""> </span>I sat with her in the car on the way to her parent’s house, and on the sofa.<span style=""> </span>These are some of the things that she said...<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>“It’s not true, it’s not true.<span style=""> </span>Dani’s not dead.<span style=""> </span>He’s not dead.”<br /><o:p></o:p>“My love why? Why?<span style=""> </span>Don’t leave me!<span style=""> </span>Fight!<span style=""> </span>Fight for your son!”<br /><o:p></o:p>“I love you, Dani, I love you, I love you, I love you...”<br /><o:p></o:p>“O God, don’t take him away from me!”<br /><o:p></o:p>“He wanted to marry me.”<o:p></o:p><br />“He loved my baby so much.”<br /><o:p></o:p>“God please take care of him for me, wherever he is.”<br /><o:p></o:p>“I know he’ll watch over us.”<br /><o:p></o:p>“I’ll take care of our baby for you, I’ll be his mother and father.”<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>At the funeral the next day <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Carolina</st1:place></st1:city> read a reading.<span style=""> </span>She is one of the strongest women I have ever met.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>After the service I dropped Vince and Jacob off at home and caught up with the funeral procession going out to the cemetery for the burial.<span style=""> </span>It’s a lovely, grassy place in the hills above the city, with trees.<span style=""> </span>Out of everything, the burial was the hardest part.<span style=""> </span>The youth from the church, his friends, sang a song about having lost the best one.<span style=""> </span>Irma, the diocesan youth leader, spoke about the youth needing to carry on in his footsteps—those of a humble, gentle, genuine, and good person.<span style=""> </span>Cain spoke eloquently.<span style=""> </span>Dani’s mother thanked everyone for their support.<span style=""> </span>And Carol spoke, and sang a love song over her boyfriend of 7 years’ casket.<span style=""> </span>Even small children were crying as she sang.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>I have often thought that Salvadorans get melodramatic at interments, sobbing and wailing over caskets as they are lowered into the ground.<span style=""> </span>The cries that day were real, and they were the most gut-wrenching sounds I have ever heard.<span style=""> </span>Noah said afterwards, “I never want to hear anyone scream like that again.”<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>I need to tell you why Dani died.<span style=""> </span>He was killed purportedly by a 13-year-old, who was given a gun by the gang in our neighborhood and told to stake out Dani’s mother’s house and wait for his brother.<span style=""> </span>Dani’s brother, a taxi driver like he was, had allegedly refused the gang members a ride at 2AM to commit a drive-by shooting in enemy territory several weeks before.<span style=""> </span>The 13-year-old needed to kill someone in order to become a fully fledged <i style="">marero</i>, gang member.<span style=""> </span>If he had come back without having murdered, he would have been beaten or killed by the gang.<span style=""> </span>So he shot the first person that drove a taxi up to their mother’s house and got out.<span style=""> </span>Dani was shot on his mother’s doorstep—she saw him shot from within.<span style=""> </span>And Carol and their five-month-old son witnessed the shooting as well; they were sitting in the taxi.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Days after the funeral <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Carolina</st1:place></st1:city> and Dani’s families both moved permanently out of the neighborhood where they had grown up.<span style=""> </span>It is not safe for them to go back.</p>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-43746739372975766152007-11-25T22:46:00.000-08:002008-03-19T08:52:59.025-07:00Jacob´s Baptism<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DnPZhL7xI/AAAAAAAAA10/QK1_fddXKb0/s1600-h/SUC58319.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 200px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DnPZhL7xI/AAAAAAAAA10/QK1_fddXKb0/s320/SUC58319.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174890223582834450" border="0" /></a><br />The Bishop baptizes and Amy annoints Jacob<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E2grlILDI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/dOz79Uc-F-U/s1600-h/SUC58322.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E2grlILDI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/dOz79Uc-F-U/s320/SUC58322.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179480981534944306" border="0" /></a><br />Jacob Ruben was brought into the Body of Christ, <span style="font-style: italic;">hecho miembro de la familia de Dios</span> (made a part of God´s family), at a little less than a month old, on November 18, 2007, at San Andrés Apóstol. Bishop Barahona baptized Jacob, Padre Richard Bower, director of Cristosal, preached, and his momma got to put holy oil on his head and say in two languages, "Jacob Ruben, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and marked as Christ's own forever." His godmothers are Marta Muñoz, engineer and revolutionary, and Suyapa Pérez, liberation theologian, both Salvadoran friends, and his godfathers are Noah Bullock, a friend and fellow missioner in El Salvador, and José López, director of the Anglican Church´s human rights office. We are grateful to God for such wonderful <span style="font-style: italic;">compadres </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">comadres</span>! (This is a special term signifying a special relationship that doesn´t exist in English-- the relationship between parents and godparents-- they are ´co-parents´.)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DnQJhL7zI/AAAAAAAAA2E/pIhbBUm4Rrs/s1600-h/SUC58326.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DnQJhL7zI/AAAAAAAAA2E/pIhbBUm4Rrs/s320/SUC58326.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174890236467736370" border="0" /></a><br />The godparents and parents hold the light of Christ for Jacob after he is baptized<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DnQphL70I/AAAAAAAAA2M/kU3L5n5a3BU/s1600-h/SUC58286.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DnQphL70I/AAAAAAAAA2M/kU3L5n5a3BU/s320/SUC58286.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174890245057670978" border="0" /></a><br />Padre Bower holds Jacob during ´baptismal preparation´ on the eve of his baptismThe Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-71369272465564773192007-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:002008-03-19T09:18:37.733-07:00He's Here!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DjmZhL7tI/AAAAAAAAA1U/e2IoriIv9vk/s1600-h/SUC58044.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 160px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DjmZhL7tI/AAAAAAAAA1U/e2IoriIv9vk/s320/SUC58044.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174886220673314514" border="0" /></a><br />Just out!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DjmphL7uI/AAAAAAAAA1c/d-259JBAcz8/s1600-h/SUC58050.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 150px;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DjmphL7uI/AAAAAAAAA1c/d-259JBAcz8/s320/SUC58050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174886224968281826" border="0" /></a><br />Our son, Jacob Ruben Zuniga, was born at 8:30p.m. on Tuesday, October 23rd at the Hospital Centro Ginecológico in San Salvador, El Salvador. He was 7 pounds 8 ounces and about 20 inches long. He is healthy, beautiful, and has a lot of hair on his head! Thank you all so much for your prayers, congratulations, and well wishes. The world feels new for us with Jacob in it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E8qblILHI/AAAAAAAAA4w/GhLOcWi-TB8/s1600-h/SUC58079.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E8qblILHI/AAAAAAAAA4w/GhLOcWi-TB8/s320/SUC58079.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179487746108435570" border="0" /></a><br />On our way home<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E66rlILFI/AAAAAAAAA4g/yypIxszKFSk/s1600-h/SUC58083.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R-E66rlILFI/AAAAAAAAA4g/yypIxszKFSk/s200/SUC58083.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179485826258054226" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/R9DjnJhL7wI/AAAAAAAAA1s/QE2XMC02vUo/s1600-h/SUC58083.JPG"><br /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-73687042775393435592007-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:002007-10-02T19:47:47.957-07:00News!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />Amy and Vince in front of the new mural painted by San Andrés kids and members of our companion parish (yes, that is a tiny blond ´Reverenda´standing in the church door on the mural!)</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtotPyU8DfI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/IabeG7E3IhY/s1600-h/SUC57486.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtotPyU8DfI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/IabeG7E3IhY/s320/SUC57486.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105442876808760818" border="0" /></a>We have some exciting news to share... Vince and I are expecting our first child this month! He will be born in El Salvador, and so will be both a Salvadoran and a U.S. citizen (this is our Salvadoran friends' main concern-'If he's born here will he be able to go to the U.S.?'). We plan to spend a couple months around Christmas introducing our little one to California family and friends, and then will return to El Salvador to finish our third year here, Sept. 2007-Aug. 2008. We will continue our work here with the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador as Volunteers in Mission of the Episcopal Church, supported by Foundation Cristosal (<a href="http://www.cristosal.org/">www.cristosal.org</a>.) Many, many thanks to all of you who have donated to our mission fund and helped make this year (2006-2007) possible for us! We feel called to continue growing in this crazy, difficult, wonderful place... both in our work and ministry, spiritually and as human beings, and now as a family. -Amy<br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RwMCHiGvR9I/AAAAAAAAAQs/SxEvPz2mp6o/s1600-h/DSC01641.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RwMCHiGvR9I/AAAAAAAAAQs/SxEvPz2mp6o/s200/DSC01641.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116935930060425170" border="0" /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-69002782933666213282007-09-19T08:20:00.000-07:002007-10-05T16:49:51.067-07:00Group Visits<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFbi27h12I/AAAAAAAAAPQ/qsnVd7B8LBA/s1600-h/SUC57372.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFbi27h12I/AAAAAAAAAPQ/qsnVd7B8LBA/s320/SUC57372.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111967706461099874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Delegation of clergy and laypersons from the Diocese of Massachusetts and members of Iglesia San Marcos, Izalco lay down some road up to the Villa Anglicana San Marcos.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFa5W7h11I/AAAAAAAAAPI/s3rKXCI2iZM/s1600-h/SUC57281.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFa5W7h11I/AAAAAAAAAPI/s3rKXCI2iZM/s200/SUC57281.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111966993496528722" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">All Saints Episcopal Church, Jacksonville Florida enact the story of Noah's Ark with students from Colegio Episcopal San Andres Apostol<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFZx27h10I/AAAAAAAAAPA/WBd1p0q-OI8/s1600-h/SUC57151.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFZx27h10I/AAAAAAAAAPA/WBd1p0q-OI8/s200/SUC57151.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111965765135882050" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Mobile Alabama join the chapel service at Centro Educativo Anglicano San Mateo.<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFVMm7h1zI/AAAAAAAAAO4/vxCwVqoCva0/s1600-h/SUC56624.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFVMm7h1zI/AAAAAAAAAO4/vxCwVqoCva0/s320/SUC56624.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111960727139243826" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><br />UC San Diego students from the Episcopal & Methodist United Campus Ministry, youth from San Juan Evangelista, and Amy gather at the Plaza Salvador del Mundo for the Romero march to the Cathedral.<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFN7W7h1yI/AAAAAAAAAOw/ee5DnIcUtHk/s1600-h/SUC56612.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFN7W7h1yI/AAAAAAAAAOw/ee5DnIcUtHk/s200/SUC56612.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111952734205105954" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"> Members of St. Michael's, Brattleboro Vermont share nuegados (ground, fried yucca) and bible study with members of Santa Maria Virgen. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFNE27h1xI/AAAAAAAAAOo/IKuuieWdADM/s1600-h/SUC56749.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RvFNE27h1xI/AAAAAAAAAOo/IKuuieWdADM/s320/SUC56749.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111951797902235410" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Members of St. John on the Mountain Episcopal Church, Bernardsville, New Jersey participate in a youth stations of the cross service at San Andres Apostol.</span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-63207227001066672812007-07-30T19:42:00.000-07:002007-09-01T20:14:00.444-07:00A visit from our companion parish<span style="font-size:78%;">The children at San Andrés painted a banner for our companion parish</span><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtokvCU8DZI/AAAAAAAAANg/PEDrHv0ta9w/s1600-h/SUC57403.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtokvCU8DZI/AAAAAAAAANg/PEDrHv0ta9w/s200/SUC57403.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105433518075022738" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoj8iU8DWI/AAAAAAAAANI/eoLzYVOOWbM/s1600-h/SUC57462.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoj8iU8DWI/AAAAAAAAANI/eoLzYVOOWbM/s200/SUC57462.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105432650491628898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> <br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">Amy and Arrington Chambliss, Associate at St. Andrew´s, shared in the service</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoqASU8DdI/AAAAAAAAAOA/KUdOQKSkIOs/s1600-h/SUC57476.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoqASU8DdI/AAAAAAAAAOA/KUdOQKSkIOs/s200/SUC57476.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105439311985905106" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"> Our new bell was dedicated after the service</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoj8iU8DWI/AAAAAAAAANI/eoLzYVOOWbM/s1600-h/SUC57462.JPG"> </a><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><br />In mid-July, members of San Andrés shared a few packed, grace-filled days with members of our companion parish, St. Andrew's in Marblehead, Massachusetts. We visited some of the pilgrimage sites of San Salvador together, including the cathedral where Monseñor Romero is buried and the UCA, the Jesuit university which was the site of the 1989 massacre of six priests and two women; members of San Andrés were able to share some of their memories of El Salvador´s past with members of St. Andrew´s. We played, sang, made and ate pupusas, painted a beautiful new mural on the side of our building, and dedicated a bell donated by our companion parish at the end of an incredibly joyful, bilingual Eucharist. We also re-told the story of this relationship, which goes back more than 15 years, re-kindled friendships between church members, and re-affirmed our companionship, a commitment between members of our two parishes to continue walking beside each other, as sisters and brothers, despite our very different backgrounds.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoj8yU8DXI/AAAAAAAAANQ/2MG7dCciZwg/s1600-h/SUC57426.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoj8yU8DXI/AAAAAAAAANQ/2MG7dCciZwg/s200/SUC57426.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105432654786596210" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">The mural takes form!</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoo0CU8DbI/AAAAAAAAANw/9IjQYnIDCOQ/s1600-h/SUC57435.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoo0CU8DbI/AAAAAAAAANw/9IjQYnIDCOQ/s200/SUC57435.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105438002020879794" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;">Romana, Dulany, and Judy prepare pupusas</span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-637408929488930742007-07-01T19:05:00.000-07:002007-09-01T20:22:12.345-07:00Goings-On at San Andrés<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtogOiU8DUI/AAAAAAAAAM4/xtGi43rieg4/s1600-h/SUC56965.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtogOiU8DUI/AAAAAAAAAM4/xtGi43rieg4/s320/SUC56965.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105428561682763074" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Amy celebrated her first wedding, of church members Jhoni and Alejandro, who have been together for 10 years. Being "accompanied" rather than married is very common in El Salvador, </span><span style="font-size:85%;">because of the cost of a wedding.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtobISU8DQI/AAAAAAAAAMY/PoMGxb9MM9Q/s1600-h/SUC57124.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtobISU8DQI/AAAAAAAAAMY/PoMGxb9MM9Q/s320/SUC57124.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105422956750441730" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Children's sermon at Pentecost</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoa2SU8DMI/AAAAAAAAAL4/P8XdfdBLTbw/s1600-h/100_1077.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoa2SU8DMI/AAAAAAAAAL4/P8XdfdBLTbw/s320/100_1077.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105422647512796354" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Shelley, Amy's mom, hosted a t-shirt painting workshop for the women and children at San Andrés while she was here, at their request</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoraSU8DeI/AAAAAAAAAOI/sVgTM7bTCwA/s1600-h/SUC56890.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoraSU8DeI/AAAAAAAAAOI/sVgTM7bTCwA/s320/SUC56890.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105440858174131682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">The reining 'Queen of the Flowers' for San Andrés School led the parade of this years´candidates<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoa2yU8DNI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Vc_IRQPMmoM/s1600-h/SUC57008.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 192px;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoa2yU8DNI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Vc_IRQPMmoM/s320/SUC57008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105422656102730962" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">A messy desk is a sign of... well, something go</span><span style="font-size:85%;">od we hope.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoa2yU8DOI/AAAAAAAAAMI/Xfz1Qtrk4Ag/s1600-h/SUC57007.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 219px;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtoa2yU8DOI/AAAAAAAAAMI/Xfz1Qtrk4Ag/s320/SUC57007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105422656102730978" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Don Adrian Landaverde, a patriarch of the church, passed away this year. This is the altar that remained for 9 days in the family home after the wake (during which over 300 people filled the small house and surrounding neighborhood) and funeral.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-90031113102788194302007-05-12T19:09:00.000-07:002007-09-01T19:28:20.456-07:00La Casa de la Solidaridad<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtodqiU8DSI/AAAAAAAAAMo/xvh3EVAdf04/s1600-h/SUC57041.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 207px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtodqiU8DSI/AAAAAAAAAMo/xvh3EVAdf04/s320/SUC57041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105425744184216866" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />San Andrés has been blessed this year to participate in La Casa de la Solidaridad, a college exchange program between Jesuit universities in the U.S. and the UCA (Universidad Centroamericana) in El Salvador. College students from the states spend four months learning in El Salvador--in the context of classwork in liberation theology, Spanish, and other disciplines, living in community with Salvadoran and U.S. peers, and spending two days a week in marginal community around San Salvador. Two wonderful people, Adam and Amy, spent from January through May with us in Amatapec-- assisting with English classes, playing at recess, hanging out in community members homes, teaching (and learning!) dance, interviewing community members about their experiences during the war, and even spending Sunday mornings and weekends with us outside of their scheduled community time. Their presence was a true blessing for the children and adults of San Andrés, who came to love them like members of their families. I believe this was because Amy and Adam were willing to step outside of their comfort zone and be vulnerable enough to receive hospitality. For more information on the Casa program, check out their website: <a href="http://www.scu.edu/casa/">www.scu.edu/casa/</a>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtofDiU8DTI/AAAAAAAAAMw/Oi9fdyRm2UU/s1600-h/SUC56945.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 262px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtofDiU8DTI/AAAAAAAAAMw/Oi9fdyRm2UU/s320/SUC56945.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105427273192574258" border="0" /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-70036220785047105402007-04-30T18:11:00.000-07:002007-09-01T18:12:35.390-07:00Newly Baptized<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RibEDeWVmPI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/xarFhK9MemY/s1600-h/SUC56843.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RibEDeWVmPI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/xarFhK9MemY/s400/SUC56843.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054943195735365874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Ronnie and Katya say their Baptismal Vows</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Ronnie and Katya, siblings in the sixth and fifth grade at Colegio San Andres, decided they wanted to be baptized. When Amy asked Ronnie, during baptismal preparation, "Why do you want to be baptized?" he replied, "I want to be closer to God."<br />With all that has been going on in the Anglican Communion lately, it may seem like the Church is about to come to a standstill, at least that's how it gets reported sometimes from what we read. Bishops posturing, priests and congregations leaving or threatening to leave one branch of the Communion for another, news reporters framing the whole conflict as if the Episcopal/Anglican Church is about to fall apart! But, maybe they should get out into the streets and barrios where church is happening-- the places where the State Department tells Americans absolutely not to go. There is some church happening there- Anglican Church. What they'll find is the Episcopal/ Anglican Church growing, people being baptized, people joining the Church, filling it up, and celebrating the resurrection of our Lord until 2:00 in the morning.<br />Whatever the outcome of the current debate in the Anglican Communion, Christ's church will continue to grow, despite those who threaten to tear it apart in the name of God, in the name of their opinion, in the name of power... All we really need are people to say 'yes' to what God is calling them to do, which takes them out of where they're comfortable and into where Christ abides, with the poor. There is no salvation outside the Church, I've heard it pronounced-- but the truth is, as Jon Sobrino says, there is no salvation outside the poor, because that is where Christ is to be found. If this is indeed true, then those that say they have found Christ in some other context may need to examine themselves in light of this hard truth. Like a sledge hammer it can shatter your preconceived notions about your own faith and relationship with Christ, and bring about a renewal based in reality. -Vince</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RibFiOWVmQI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/FTkWCL5cu0s/s1600-h/SUC56849.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RibFiOWVmQI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/FTkWCL5cu0s/s320/SUC56849.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054944823527971074" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-size:78%;">Katya is baptized </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RibCxeWVmNI/AAAAAAAAAJk/Wb9mOlSovoE/s1600-h/SUC56846.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RibCxeWVmNI/AAAAAAAAAJk/Wb9mOlSovoE/s320/SUC56846.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054941786986092754" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">A very nervous Ronnie is baptized<br /></span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-90101837359364773002007-04-25T12:23:00.001-07:002007-04-26T13:58:52.402-07:00Alegre Los Anglicanos!<span style="font-size:78%;">A "convivio" at San Andres Apostol celebrating Anglican Women in El Salvador.</span><br /><embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=1821632356827091101&hl=en" flashvars=""></embed>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-58274423103827322692007-04-08T21:20:00.000-07:002007-04-13T12:53:45.146-07:00Esta es la Luz de Cristo- Happy Easter!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rh_JaZdHihI/AAAAAAAAAJc/PhsLPXEwYB4/s1600-h/SUC56815.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rh_JaZdHihI/AAAAAAAAAJc/PhsLPXEwYB4/s320/SUC56815.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052978762279782930" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><span style="font-size:78%;">Members of San Andres gather around the fire, which the women from the church had prepared, and wait for the vigil to begin. </span></span> <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnAgFw17VI/AAAAAAAAAIE/klZWgULdhz0/s1600-h/SUC56816.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnAgFw17VI/AAAAAAAAAIE/klZWgULdhz0/s320/SUC56816.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051280114608106834" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span style="font-size:78%;">Members of San Andres Apostol listen to the Exsultet during the Great Vigil</span></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rh_IJJdHigI/AAAAAAAAAJU/YD9f97x00ng/s1600-h/SUC56822.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rh_IJJdHigI/AAAAAAAAAJU/YD9f97x00ng/s320/SUC56822.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052977366415411714" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size:78%;">New church member Yanile gives her interpretation of the reading from Genesis and of what it has to say to the people of Amatepec.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"> <span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span></span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-68214267395975864632007-04-07T21:20:00.000-07:002007-04-09T17:55:22.493-07:00Diocesan Youth Campout- Alto Lempa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnGPVw17bI/AAAAAAAAAI0/7G7L0wrHkP8/s1600-h/SUC56766.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnGPVw17bI/AAAAAAAAAI0/7G7L0wrHkP8/s320/SUC56766.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051286423915064754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> La Reverenda gets an explanation on how the game is played</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnF2Vw17aI/AAAAAAAAAIs/zWKXayV5u8E/s1600-h/SUC56761.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnF2Vw17aI/AAAAAAAAAIs/zWKXayV5u8E/s320/SUC56761.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051285994418335138" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">On the rocks listening and not listening to the charla.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Jamming with Don Mario Peraza</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhrfRVw17eI/AAAAAAAAAJM/IDkz3Or7Ofo/s1600-h/SUC56775.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhrfRVw17eI/AAAAAAAAAJM/IDkz3Or7Ofo/s200/SUC56775.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051595421042208226" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Lay Missioner in the region, Eric, works with his group concerning their dramatization that night.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rhrd5Fw17cI/AAAAAAAAAI8/pjW3zBMAAHs/s1600-h/SUC56795.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rhrd5Fw17cI/AAAAAAAAAI8/pjW3zBMAAHs/s320/SUC56795.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051593904918752706" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhreaFw17dI/AAAAAAAAAJE/GEUnNvbwNEs/s1600-h/SUC56778.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhreaFw17dI/AAAAAAAAAJE/GEUnNvbwNEs/s200/SUC56778.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051594471854435794" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"> Gathered for a game</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnD2Fw17WI/AAAAAAAAAIM/Zwaa-v4bo10/s1600-h/SUC56798.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RhnD2Fw17WI/AAAAAAAAAIM/Zwaa-v4bo10/s320/SUC56798.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051283791100112226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Amy rests after suffering from a bout</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">of Pica Pica (It's a stinging pod from a vine and made her leg feel like it was covered in red ants that were biting her)</span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-65961862610009506622007-03-11T16:48:00.000-07:002007-09-01T17:59:58.648-07:00Images from Johannesburg: TEAM 2007<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoGHCU8DII/AAAAAAAAALY/LKA-fPVku3M/s1600-h/SUC56535.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoGHCU8DII/AAAAAAAAALY/LKA-fPVku3M/s200/SUC56535.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105399845531421826" border="0" /> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoFdyU8DGI/AAAAAAAAALI/VjBn36HFBp0/s1600-h/SUC56527.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoFdyU8DGI/AAAAAAAAALI/VjBn36HFBp0/s200/SUC56527.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105399136861817954" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">LEFT: Amy with Diana, chaplain of the c</span><span style="font-size:78%;">onference, </span><span style="font-size:78%;">an amazing priest from Uganda and its future bishop!</span><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />RIGHT:Brian from the Seychelles modeling </span><span style="font-size:78%;">a Salvadoran stole</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn9kSU8C_I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/15OCuXnC3DM/s1600-h/SUC56460.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn9kSU8C_I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/15OCuXnC3DM/s320/SUC56460.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105390452437945330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Amy with other young women clergy:<br />Sally Su from Mexico and Irene Ayallo from Kenya,<br />currently studying in New Zealand</span><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn-wCU8DCI/AAAAAAAAAKo/4V5OXjUZVeA/s1600-h/SUC56477.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn-wCU8DCI/AAAAAAAAAKo/4V5OXjUZVeA/s320/SUC56477.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105391753813036066" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Amy con-celebrating the Eucharist planned and lead by the Latin American delegation with Bishop Julio Murray of Panama and Bishop<br />Maurício Araújo, primate of Brazil, with transitional deacon Sally Su from Mexico City.<br />Our tri-lingual liturgy (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) included music, dance, and was accompanied by artwork depicting some of the issues the conference discussed as lived in different parts of Latin America</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoKASU8DKI/AAAAAAAAALo/35rFUBr-r0s/s1600-h/SUC56511.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoKASU8DKI/AAAAAAAAALo/35rFUBr-r0s/s200/SUC56511.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105404127613815970" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn_WyU8DDI/AAAAAAAAAKw/JNYInAUic_8/s1600-h/SUC56508.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn_WyU8DDI/AAAAAAAAAKw/JNYInAUic_8/s200/SUC56508.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105392419532966962" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoKAiU8DLI/AAAAAAAAALw/huMznSNh-lM/s1600-h/SUC56512.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoKAiU8DLI/AAAAAAAAALw/huMznSNh-lM/s200/SUC56512.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105404131908783282" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Some members of the Latin American delegation grabbed a photo op with Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoJESU8DJI/AAAAAAAAALg/mtdEepkNAiI/s1600-h/SUC56486.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RtoJESU8DJI/AAAAAAAAALg/mtdEepkNAiI/s320/SUC56486.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105403096821664914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Members of the Latin American delegation and staff of the Episcopal Church center enjoyed themselves at a fiesta hosted by the Anglican and Global Relations office of 815.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn9kiU8DAI/AAAAAAAAAKY/hE6DO9LFafE/s1600-h/SUC56419.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rtn9kiU8DAI/AAAAAAAAAKY/hE6DO9LFafE/s320/SUC56419.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105390456732912642" border="0" /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-90541052852561918142007-03-10T05:32:00.000-08:002007-09-01T16:48:34.340-07:00Some Observations from the TEAM (Towards Effective Anglican Mission) Conference<p class="MsoNormal">March 8, 2007<span style=""> </span>Boksburg, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Johannesburg</st1:city>, <st1:country-region st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have been given the enormous privilege of being a delegate from IARCA, The Anglican Church in the Region of Central America, to TEAM, a conference of the world-wide Anglican Communion on prophetic mission, development, and HIV/AIDS.<span style=""> </span>It is a privilege for me, an Episcopal missionary priest in the Anglican/Episcopal Church of El Salvador, to be representing my colleagues at an event which will hopefully have global implications for the mission of the Anglican Church and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.<span style=""> </span>It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (if you’re not a bishop and don’t attend Lambeth!) to be gathered with Anglicans from every<span style=""> </span>part of the globe—I have met people from England, every part of Africa and Latin America, Madagascar and Seychelles, which I didn’t even know existed before!<span style=""> </span>Perhaps even more importantly, the reason for which we are gathered is I believe critically important to the relevance and continued existence of the church and the life of God’s children on earth.<span style=""> </span>We are gathered to attempt to ensure that the gospel we preach is truly good news for the poor. (Luke 4: 18) </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the morning we heard a stirring address by the Archbishop of Capetown and Southern Africa, our host, Njongonkulu Ndungane, who, referring to the current conflicts in the Communion assured us that, “As we better follow Jesus’ example in mission in response to the needs of the world we will better know how to follow his example in other areas and will be able to address our differences.”<span style=""> </span>The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, followed, giving a deeply intelligent and compelling “Bible study” on the topic.<span style=""> </span>Noting that “knowing the Lord” is defined in Jeremiah 22:16 as “giving the poor a fair trial,” he defined the “essence of the law” in the Hebrew Scriptures as “ensuring that no one is forgotten and no one is invisible.”<span style=""> </span>The law, and God’s final purpose for humanity, the Archbishop said, are “being uncovered in Jesus of <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Nazareth</st1:city></st1:place>… as a human being creating community [in which] no one is forgotten.”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The spiritual head of our Communion (who actually is a lot taller than I thought he was!) went on to say something which, in conjunction with a question asked by a delegate from Canada, impressed upon me deeply the imperative and the necessary quality of the involvement of those of us from the “developed” world in this struggle to ensure that no one is forgotten by the tides of so-called progress.<span style=""> </span>The question related to how, in the midst of the over-abundant prosperity in the rich countries, a gospel which is good news to the poor may be preached.<span style=""> </span>The Archbishop said, “You can never settle down with the fantasy that one part of the human family can live at the expense of another part.<span style=""> </span>There are no gated communities in the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">God</st1:placename></st1:place>—none can be insulated from the loss and suffering of others… [for] when one part of the body suffers, all the others suffer with it. ” (1 Cor 12:26)<span style=""> </span>He went on to quote <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">St. Augustine</st1:city></st1:place> as saying that the tragedy of injustice is “not only the suffering of the oppressed, but the corruption of the mind and heart of the oppressor.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The imperative is this: our involvement in attempting to correct the injustices of this world, of which we are the beneficiaries, is nothing less than the working out of our own salvation, with fear and trembling.<span style=""> </span>And the quality of that involvement is just as important (if not more important!) than the involvement itself.<span style=""> </span>If we come knowing all the answers, ready to “fix” the problems of the poor (and just as unwilling to fix ourselves!) then we’ve missed the point.<span style=""> </span>Several “first-world” delegates have brought up the question of how to deal with people in the churches who seem indifferent to these issues.<span style=""> </span>The Archbishop’s answer was clear: what is called for is “that form of healing called conversion.” +Amy<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-28563248133374443342007-02-17T15:59:00.000-08:002007-02-28T12:30:40.460-08:00Want to Be a Missionary?<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeYWbh_iQI/AAAAAAAAAGI/a6jO0mybXc0/s1600-h/SUC56263.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032658619724695810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeYWbh_iQI/AAAAAAAAAGI/a6jO0mybXc0/s320/SUC56263.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102);font-size:78%;" > Cristosal board member Padre Kevin Dixon, Rector of St. Mary's Kerrisdale, British Columbia receives a</span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102);font-size:78%;" > birthday blessing along with church members baby Genesis -- (held by Pd. Dixon) and Sylvia Landaverde</span><br /></div><p><br />Amy and I had a busy past couple of weeks involving two branches of mission support in the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rd3ne8Os7DI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/lgWooKBiomw/s1600-h/SUC56217.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034434477219966002" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Rd3ne8Os7DI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/lgWooKBiomw/s200/SUC56217.JPG" border="0" /></a> Anglican/Episcopal Church's work in El Salvador, both of which are supporting our work here. The first week we had a great time meeting with members of the board of Cristosal and were glad to have the opportunity to thank them for their support. Cristosal is a non-profit organization whose board is made up of Canadian and U.S. Anglican/Episcopal clergy and lay persons and whose mission is to support the work of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador. The Very Rev. Richard Bower is Executive Director and a founding member of Cristosal, and a person for whom Amy and I hold a very deep respect. In addition to acting as the channel for our financial support (and that of other missioners), Cristosal funds the Diocesan Human Rights Office, the Communications Office, and supports Continuing Education in the Diocese. A new Center for Pastoral Work and Development in the Bajo Lempa region is currently underway and in addition to the current clergy and lay missioners, will be staffed with a new Cristosal funded missioner- our good friend Noah Bullock.<br />We then were on our way to Florida for a Discernment Retreat hosted by the Episcopal Church's<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeZ-Lh_iTI/AAAAAAAAAGg/9a9gTdykiFg/s1600-h/SUC56268.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032660402136123698" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeZ-Lh_iTI/AAAAAAAAAGg/9a9gTdykiFg/s200/SUC56268.JPG" border="0" /></a> Mission Personnel Office, under the Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Episcopal Church Center. They have agreed to take us on as Volunteers for Mission of the Episcopal Church. Though we had already discerned our call and had a place in the field, we were invited to attend the Discernment Retreat to meet the staff as well as new potential missionaries in the various places in their processes of discernment. It will be interesting to see where they end up and hear about their experiences in the dioceses where they will be working.</p><p> Amy and I hope that anyone feeling even a slight interest to work in mission in another country would contact the Mission Personnel Office. Check it out and see where it leads you. They are great people to work with who can help you discern your call and provide tools to fulfill what you may feel God is calling you to do.<br />Specifically, in regards to El Salvador, we would also strongly recommend contacting Cristosal. They are doing important work here in accompaniment with the Salvadoran people and should be a contact for anyone working in the Episcopal/Anglican context here. Both organizations are strong agencies for helping one discern a call to mission and make it a reality. If you are feeling even the slightest pull or push from the Holy Spirit we urge you to get in contact with either organization. If the MDG goals are to be addressed to any kind of significance by the church, then its members need to overcome their fears and step out in action.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Contact info- Cristosal website- www.cristosal.org<br />Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Episcopal Church- www.episcopalchurch.org/agr.htm<br /></p></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeaRbh_iUI/AAAAAAAAAGo/9u0FPjex-Ac/s1600-h/SUC56266.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032660732848605506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeaRbh_iUI/AAAAAAAAAGo/9u0FPjex-Ac/s320/SUC56266.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Staff from the Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Episcopal Church with future and current Episcopal missionaries, and in the middle, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade bishop of Southeast Florida at the Duncan Retreat Center in Florida.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RdeZJrh_iSI/AAAAAAAAAGY/GnEbK3mHF2k/s1600-h/SUC56222.JPG"><br /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-30304802625313834362006-12-16T14:35:00.000-08:002007-01-26T19:12:57.333-08:00Vacation Bible School at San Andrés<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2GCrd_8zI/AAAAAAAAAEs/8OZ_u9CvnvI/s1600-h/SUC55703.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2GCrd_8zI/AAAAAAAAAEs/8OZ_u9CvnvI/s320/SUC55703.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020816540174381874" border="0" /></a> Summer vacation from school in El Salvador falls between November and January, so Vacation Bible School at church comes in December. While it adds one more thing to an already busy month, having VBS in December has one big advantage: you get to do all the Advent and Christmas stuff. This year we explored the themes of Advent, the Anunciation, Christ´s Birth and the Shepherds, and the Visit of the Three Kings, with the enthusiastic participation of about thirty kids split into groups<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2Grbd_80I/AAAAAAAAAE0/uxRxG9gjZZw/s1600-h/SUC55711.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2Grbd_80I/AAAAAAAAAE0/uxRxG9gjZZw/s200/SUC55711.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020817240254051138" border="0" /></a> by age: 3-5, 6-9, and 10+. Our unifiying theme was "The symbols of Christmas;" most of the crafts the kids made each day were ornaments. On Friday we watched a cartoon movie of the birth of Jesus, ate popcorn, and decorated the tree (the kids got to choose which ornaments they took home and which they put on the tree; some took all, some left all!) Vacation Bible School was really fun.<br /><br />The best part is, that our Christmas tree is a coffee bush! It happened<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2DVbd_8vI/AAAAAAAAAEM/1SqRndmEDFo/s1600-h/SUC55709.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2DVbd_8vI/AAAAAAAAAEM/1SqRndmEDFo/s200/SUC55709.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020813563762045682" border="0" /></a> like this: Leaving church the afternoon before the start of VBS, I was talking with Niña Romana, one of our pillars at San Andrés, about how we would need a tree to decorate. Not everyone has a tree here, but small fake trees are gettting popular (real pine trees are hard to get). The fake trees rub me the wrong way--not just because they´re fake, but because they are so completely out of context (like the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2C1bd_8uI/AAAAAAAAAEE/37-pXPWUACI/s1600-h/SUC55714.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2C1bd_8uI/AAAAAAAAAEE/37-pXPWUACI/s200/SUC55714.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020813014006231778" border="0" /></a>singing of White Christmas at a Christmas concert I attended this week!) So I casually mentioned to Niña Romana, ¨Aren´t coffee bushes the traditional Christmas trees in the campo (countryside)?" "Of course!" she replied immediately, "We should get a coffee bush. I'll be in charge of the tree." The next day she shows up a little late for VBS, trailed by three grandchildren lugging an eight-foot tall coffee bush, with some coffee berries still on it! It was acquired,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2EMrd_8wI/AAAAAAAAAEU/b3k0roJ_52s/s1600-h/SUC55729.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2EMrd_8wI/AAAAAAAAAEU/b3k0roJ_52s/s200/SUC55729.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020814512949818114" border="0" /></a> apparently, by one of her sons, who went up to the "monte" (the mountain behind the community, which still has some coffee farming) and paid $2 for it. Our coffee Christmas tree looks wonderful.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2FM7d_8yI/AAAAAAAAAEk/2QMlti-DPFU/s1600-h/SUC55843.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/Ra2FM7d_8yI/AAAAAAAAAEk/2QMlti-DPFU/s320/SUC55843.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5020815616756413218" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> Most of the members of the San Andrés Apóstol vacation bible school before the Christmas coffee bush on Christmas Eve</span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-60881143190426367432006-12-11T13:56:00.000-08:002007-01-26T20:21:41.675-08:00Blessing and Inauguration of the New Anglican Village of La Divina Providencia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3aEidrRFI/AAAAAAAAABs/eROxe2qOoC0/s1600-h/SUC55642.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3aEidrRFI/AAAAAAAAABs/eROxe2qOoC0/s400/SUC55642.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007398132211467346" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> Esther Cohen from ERD and Bishop Barahona cut the symbolic tape inaugurating the Anglican Villa de La Divina Providencia</span><br />On a slightly cloudy, warm day out in the Department of Sonsonate, the Bishop Martín Barahona, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) representative Esther Cohen, Rev. Mario Nunez, priest-in-charge of the congregation La Divina Providencia, and other members of the diocese celebrated the official commencement new Anglican Village, La Divina Providencia. The houses were constructed as part of Episcopal Relief and Development's reconstruction work after the 2001 earthquakes. Many volunteers who came to El Salvador through ERD worked hot hours under the sun shoveling dirt, and future home-owners worked weekends to get the houses built. In November a lottery was held among those who had been selected to receive a house-- all families with children, with no substance abuse issues or criminal record, and who had never owned property. The lottery determined which house each family would get, and keys were handed over. The Eucharist and ceremony December 9 officially inaugurated the village, but signs of unofficial inauguration abounded: about five families had moved in, chickens, hammocks, and all (included the lucky family who got the corner house by the school site, and had taken advantage of their <span style="font-style: italic;">suerte </span>to start the first store!) and many others had "inaugurated" their houses by putting in fences, planting gardens, and installing the ubiquitous window-rails. After so many months of visiting El Maizal (the Diocesan property where La Divina Providencia is located), watching the village take shape little by little, it was so exciting to finally see it come to life. The bishop walked through the entire village when the service was over, blessing each of the 30 houses, sprinkling it with holy water. Many future residents, including the owner of the future pupuseria of the village, hurried ahead with their keys to open the doors so he could bless the inside as well.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RbrJtHj77mI/AAAAAAAAAFc/yV2QD9FqwXM/s1600-h/SUC55646.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RbrJtHj77mI/AAAAAAAAAFc/yV2QD9FqwXM/s320/SUC55646.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5024550111246282338" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3Y6SdrRDI/AAAAAAAAABE/3kBMYPJ5BnY/s1600-h/SUC55607.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3Y6SdrRDI/AAAAAAAAABE/3kBMYPJ5BnY/s200/SUC55607.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007396856606180402" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-size:85%;">A Bishop who walks with his people</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Bishop Barahona preached about the</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">kind of community residents should<br />build at La Divina Providencia</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3YIydrRCI/AAAAAAAAAA8/ojaXPwgSVGQ/s1600-h/SUC55615.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3YIydrRCI/AAAAAAAAAA8/ojaXPwgSVGQ/s320/SUC55615.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007396006202655778" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"> The gathered community</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3W-ydrRBI/AAAAAAAAAA0/HOZXzXDpWuY/s1600-h/SUC55635.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3W-ydrRBI/AAAAAAAAAA0/HOZXzXDpWuY/s200/SUC55635.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007394734892336146" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Youth from the community enlivened the celebration with dramatic dance</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3WpCdrRAI/AAAAAAAAAAs/-AblIcS7IgY/s1600-h/SUC55650.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3WpCdrRAI/AAAAAAAAAAs/-AblIcS7IgY/s200/SUC55650.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007394361230181378" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:85%;"> The house-blessing procession</span><br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3VHSdrQ_I/AAAAAAAAAAk/R0wCSP9WzQU/s1600-h/SUC55667.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RX3VHSdrQ_I/AAAAAAAAAAk/R0wCSP9WzQU/s320/SUC55667.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007392681897968626" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;"> The owner of the future pupuseria (left) is exuberant as her house is blessed.</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-32443974111347344862006-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:002006-12-16T18:58:17.100-08:00Advent I<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYR_yX1r1AI/AAAAAAAAAC0/y0phEiHM3Tw/s1600-h/SUC55527.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 214px;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYR_yX1r1AI/AAAAAAAAAC0/y0phEiHM3Tw/s320/SUC55527.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009269188912206850" border="0" /></a><br />Advent is my favorite liturgical season. Advent is so very real. It reminds us that we're in the in-between-time, after Jesus came to announce the in-breaking of the Reign of God, and before that reign is brought to its full-ness. It reminds us that we're not there yet, neither individually, nor in our communities, nor as a human family. We are like the people waiting in the dark for the dawn, like the ancient people waiting for its Savior. There is so much to do... and not only to prepare for Christmas. There is so much to do to make this world look more like what God wants it to look like that sometimes it is completely overwhelming. Where to start? The Church starts its liturgical year with this time of waiting. Waiting in the dark during the darkest days of the year, for the light to begin to increase. Waiting for Emanuel, God-with-us, to come again on earth. Reminding ourselves that we are waiting for something. -AmyThe Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-73426805411824984302006-12-01T17:40:00.000-08:002007-01-13T16:47:44.100-08:00Día de San Andrés Apóstol<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYahHn1r1DI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DbvAd6WbE3w/s1600-h/DSCF0124.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYahHn1r1DI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DbvAd6WbE3w/s400/DSCF0124.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009868787821564978" border="0" /></a> <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:78%;">Participants in the bike contests line up and wait for the start of the events, which was delayed due to the failure of the police to show up to close off the street, which, in Salvadoran fashion, the congregation took it upon themselves and closed off the street, forcing buses to turn around and bringing much traffic to a halt, all so kids could have an event of their own.</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYagHH1r1CI/AAAAAAAAADI/Pk1jbmJfSkY/s1600-h/SUC55548.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYagHH1r1CI/AAAAAAAAADI/Pk1jbmJfSkY/s200/SUC55548.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009867679720002594" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />The "fiesta patronal," patronal saint's feast, of a church, community, or city is always a big deal in El Salvador. The enthusiasm and love which members of San Andrés put into <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYafd31r1BI/AAAAAAAAADA/z1wBsGhVPYE/s1600-h/SUC55559.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYafd31r1BI/AAAAAAAAADA/z1wBsGhVPYE/s200/SUC55559.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5009866971050398738" border="0" /></a>their fiesta patronal this year, compared to the same celebration a year ago, shortly after we arrived, was tangible evidence of the Spirit´s work healing and enlivening this community. Community members, especially members of the youth group, worked all day the Sunday before and each weeknight painting (we painted the entire bookstore/sacristy/classroom annex which was previously bare cinderblock), pruning, weeding, planting, cleaning, and decorating. The women came up with a new plan for hanging the Christmas garlands, in "curtains" from the ceiling, and were persistent until they had accomplished their goal! The youth made numerous trips to the mayor's office and police department to get the necessary permission to close the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYLWI8eftrI/AAAAAAAAACY/3XBvSJncVCc/s1600-h/SUC55554.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYLWI8eftrI/AAAAAAAAACY/3XBvSJncVCc/s320/SUC55554.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008801184750745266" border="0" /></a> street for their "tape race", then valiantly closed the street themselves,( with the Reverenda's car!) when the police failed to show up (!) and held a hot flea market in which they made nearly $50 on two pews' worth of donated clothing. The "tape race" was quite something-- 10 boys got numerous chances to put a pencil through a key ring taped to a clothes line, while riding their bikes under the clothes line! Those who were sucessful got a gift provided by the "godmothers" of the event, the girls of the parish. The women cooked typical salvadoran dishes over wood fires all afternoon, and the day closed with a service at <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYK40MeftpI/AAAAAAAAACA/iAkNsCMdBNc/s1600-h/DSCF0128.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RYK40MeftpI/AAAAAAAAACA/iAkNsCMdBNc/s200/DSCF0128.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5008768942431254162" border="0" /></a>which three members of the congregation were received by the bishop into the Anglican Communion. The service, of course, was punctuated by fireworks!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RXYgHRGZhqI/AAAAAAAAAAM/9daMMreURBo/s1600-h/SUC55578.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5005223345090299554" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5wS_djBxNGA/RXYgHRGZhqI/AAAAAAAAAAM/9daMMreURBo/s320/SUC55578.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><span style="font-size:78%;"> Gathering before the start of the evening's service</span>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-48377273984989098752006-11-03T18:03:00.000-08:002006-12-06T17:07:04.433-08:00When the People Leave<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC53825.0.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/320/SUC53825.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> Clay artisans from Ilobasco have created a series of "sorpresas" surprises, illustrating the journey north</span> <p class="MsoNormal">“If she leaves, she won’t ever come back,” lamented the young woman’s mother-in-law in low tones to a neighbor after a home bible study.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/415856/SUC55288.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/347778/SUC55288.jpg" border="0" /></a> young woman in question is twenty-three, and is thinking of traveling to the United States with a “coyote” (trafficker in illegal immigration) to find work.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>She and her husband are fortunate enough to both have jobs in El Salvador, but they make so little that they are now unable to make the payments on their small house (“really it’s a shack,” commented her mother-in-law).<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Energy prices have more than doubled recently, rising global energy prices being compounded in El Salvador by the simultaneous removal of government subsidies.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>“I am a penny-pincher,” a woman who lives next to the church told me.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>“I turn off all the lights we’re not using, and unplug everything except the refrigerator.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>My bill used to be $8<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>a month, and now it’s $22.”<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The recent increase in minimum wage (though most people actually make below minimum wage), from US $160 a month to $170 a month, doesn’t even cover the increase in the electric bill.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC53829.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/200/SUC53829.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">Immigrants from Central America face more dangers traveling by land to the United States than those from Mexico, because of the additional length of their journey, and because they face abuse by the Mexican police if caught.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>People who immigrate with coyotes often spend their first few years in the US, if they are lucky enough to “pass” and find work, paying off the loans they took out to pay the coyote, whose fees for Central American immigrants range from $5,000 to $10,000 per person.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Coyotes do not give refunds if migrants are caught and returned.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>And those who opt to travel alone face even greater risks, not only of getting caught, but of death or dismemberment from trains, crossing rivers, or in the desert.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">This is not a journey people undertake lightly, in order to flaunt the laws of the United States, o<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC53830.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/200/SUC53830.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>r to steal from its people.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>People take on the enormous risks of an undocumented journey to the US simply because of economic need, and because the “sueño Americano¨ (American dream) is so effectively sold by the international media and the mall-builders in Latin America.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Who wouldn’t rather work at a job that would enable them to afford a designer T-shirt rather than sewing those T-shirts together for $5 a day?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">To me the most tragic effect of migration is the breaking apart of families.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The 23-year-old woman, if she migrates, will not see her five-year-old son or her husband for years, if she sees them again at all.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>There are numerous children in our school who have one or both parents in the US (one small boy is now the only member of his immediate family still in El Salvador); their struggles and sense of abandonment show up in their academic difficulties and behavioral acting-out.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">The Church does not promote or encourage illegal immigration.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Bishop Barahona has been instrumental in founding two migration-related organizations: one non-profit that helps people seek legal means to immigrate to the US, and another which helps deportees re-integrate into life in El Salvador.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>We try to educate people about the risks of going, and encourage young people to seek higher education in order to get ahead and make a contribution to bettering the situation in their home country.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>But when people have made up their mind, there is little more we can do.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>I give them a cross or a small bible, a pamphlet on the human rights of migrants, pray with them for their safety and for their family.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>I pray that our migrant Savior, who was a refugee in Egypt, may go with them on their way.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC53832.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/320/SUC53832.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p> </p>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-75832160980334065792006-11-01T08:28:00.000-08:002007-05-10T18:13:25.426-07:00San Andrés Science Fair<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/954237/DSCF0008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/320/895876/DSCF0008.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;"> Above: One student offers an explanation of his project</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/92959/DSCF0017.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/652770/DSCF0017.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />As the school year neared an end, students at Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apóstol got a chance to show off what they had learned at the school science fair. The panel of judges reviewed the projects of students from kindergarden up to sixth grade, as parents looked on and children nervously awaited their turn to explain their project. The winning project in the upper grades was presented by 5th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/330596/DSCF0068.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/713814/DSCF0068.jpg" border="0" /></a> grader Mayra Aguilar, who gave a med-school worthy explanation of the process of human gestation and birth.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/63916/DSCF0054.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/599334/DSCF0054.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Rt.:Mayra Aguilar and her winning project on the birth process.<br />Lt.: Lissbeth Escobar stands above her detailed project onthe negative effects of deforestation in El Salvador.<br /></span> <span style="font-size:78%;">Below: Students and parents mill about inside the church for the science fair</span> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/870612/DSCF0043.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/320/762040/DSCF0043.jpg" border="0" /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15523328.post-76434501455774918822006-10-30T06:10:00.001-08:002007-02-17T17:42:31.524-08:00Events Honoring "Anglican Women's Month"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/482516/SUC55197.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/714400/SUC55197.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Folkloric Dancers from the diocesan youth group perform at the dinner held in honor of the Anglican women of El Salvador</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />October is celebrated as "The Month of the Anglican Woman" in the Province of Central America, and it was well celebrated this year in the Diocese of El Salvador! The Diocesan <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/80120/SUC55132.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/809456/SUC55132.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Commission on Women's Ministry hosted a vigil, at which Amy and four other women from the diocese gave talks on "spiritual healing" for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/273918/SUC55218.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/370611/SUC55218.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> church. Each talk was over an hour long, a combined band from several of the local churches (a number of whom have studied guitar with Vince) enlivened the worshippers at intervals, and the vigil ended with the Holy Eucharist at 6AM!<br />A week later over 200 women, men, youth, and children enjoyed a "Prayer Dinner" hosted by the Diocesan Women's Commission. Women representing all of the congregations in the diocese were present and gave messages, a group of young women from San Salvador area churches enlivened us with traditional folk dance, and a wonderful time was had by all. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/991928/SUC55213.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/842896/SUC55213.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/469066/SUC55117.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/200/777413/SUC55117.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Lt.-People from around the diocese enjoy the annual dinner. Rt.- </span> <span style="font-size:78%;"> San Andres Apostol vestry member Vilma Ayala gives a sermon at the all night vigil</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC55228.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/320/SUC55228.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Not to be left out, the churches in the greater Soyapango area to the east of San Salvador (San Andrés in Amatapec, Santa María Vírgen in Ilopango, and Santísima Trinidad in San Martín) hosted a ¨Mini-Congress" on women's ministry, lay and ordained, in the church. The mini-congreso began with a two-mile march for peace from the main boulevard that connects our communities (ironically, Boulevard de los Ejercitos, "Army Boulevard") up to San Andrés.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC55232.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/200/SUC55232.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> All three of our communities have been heavily hit by violence over the past few months, and young men associated with both San Andrés and Santa María Vírgen have been killed in the gang's cross-fire. The march, in which about 40 people all dressed in white partipated, drew a lot of attention in the community. Once we arrived at the church, we continued singing some very enlivening songs, as Vince said "we freakin' rocked the joint!", and heard an encouraging message from Padre Julio of Santa María Vírgen. Speaking on the raising of Lazarus he said, ¨Christ asked the people to roll away the stone. That was possible for them. They couldn´t raise the dead. But they could roll away the stone. Christ asks us to do what is possible for us, and to leave the impossible to him, because <span style="font-weight: bold;">God is a specialist in the impossible</span>!¨ Amy gave a talk which answered theological and biblical objections to women´s ordained ministry, empowering people to explain these things to others who don´t understand in this heavily <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC55270.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/200/SUC55270.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Roman Catholic context. Bishop Barahona arrived, vested in white (just a little too late for the march!) and spoke movingly about his experience with women´s ministry in the church. ¨We are very, very close to ordaining the first Salvadoran woman in El Salvador,¨ he said (the three women Bishop Barahona has ordained in El Salvador have all been North Americans). The mini-congreso closed with a Eucharist, at which Bishop Barahona presided, and just under 200 people were present. The people gathered signed a card of congratulations and support for Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. It was truly moving to share this event with our closest neighbor congregations, and we plan to have a lot more shared events in the future.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/658269/SUC55277.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/7680/1894/320/602715/SUC55277.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7680/1894/1600/SUC55277.jpg"><br /></a>The Rev. Amy Denney Zunigahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04161570885777570402noreply@blogger.com0